BREAKING Canada's GDP rises amid expert fears of rate-hike recession
Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product rose 0.2 per cent in February. The growth followed a 0.5 per cent gain in January.
A proposed federal plan to curb plastic packaging is on a timeline fruit and vegetable producers are calling “problematic” and “unrealistic.”
In August, consultations for the pollution prevention planning notice for primary food plastic packaging were launched as the federal government searches for ways to reduce the more than 4.4 million tonnes of plastic waste thrown away every year.
“We hear it from Canadian from coast to coast to coast, that they hate seeing so much plastic wrapping,” said Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault.
The produce sector is concerned about the timelines of some of the proposed targets.
“Fresh fruits and vegetables are distributed and sold in bulk and/or plastic-free packaging,” the Environment and Climate Change Canada website reads. “75 per cent by 2026 and 95 per cent by 2028.”
“It’s probably not realistic,” said Tilly Stewart, director of citrus at Star Produce in Calgary. “The way it’s currently written will change the entire global food system.”
Stewart’s company packages fresh cut fruit, in plastic packages, for sale at grocery stores.
She insists the industry is working on ways to reduce its use of plastics, but currently biodegradable alternatives are too expensive.
“The technology just isn’t there yet,” Steward said. “(The) biodegradable (plastic) industry is quite greenwashed right now.”
A study obtained by CTV News from the Canadian Produce Marketing Association said the proposed rules are expected to pass on a 30 per cent additional cost to the consumer.
The higher prices come from transition to more expensive packaging materials, inefficiencies in shipping and increased food waste.
“Everybody gets upset about the wrap on cucumbers,” said CPMA President Ron Lemaire. "The challenge you have is you have two days at home with your cucumber, as opposed to 15 days."
Karen Wirsig, the senior program manager for plastics at Environmental Defence, rejects the industry’s food loss projections.
“There is absolutely no evidence that we're seeing a reduction in food loss and waste through the whole supply chain, because of that single use packaging,” she said.
Lemaire says the industry wants to find ways to have plastic packaging reused and recycled within a contained supply chain.
"It's a complex food system,” Lemaire said. "One decision on packaging can influence a whole shift in how people behave and eat."
A roll of plastic bags is seen at a market in Montreal on Thursday, June 13, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
More than two-thirds of all produce consumed in Canada is imported, so there are concerns of a trade chill as well.
“You’re dealing with international trade partners, and manufactures that may just say ‘you know what, were not ready to shift our production lines,’” said Michael Zabaneh, Retail Council of Canada's vice-president of sustainability.
Kaitlin Power, Guilbeault's press secretary, said in a statement that the notice is “not a regulation.”
“The Government is committed to advancing solutions that avoid increasing the cost of food or food waste in collaboration with grocers, other businesses and stakeholders,” Power’s statement said. “We have been clear that we want to collaborate with producers and grocers on implementing solutions that exist, while avoiding negative consumer and environmental outcomes, and suggestions otherwise are inaccurate.”
A federal ban on the sale of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks and other single-use plastics, comes into effect on Dec. 20, 2023.
The plan to reduce plastic packaging, is part of the government’s “zero plastic waste by 2030” strategy.
More than half of all the plastic waste thrown out in Canada is from packaging, according to Statistics Canada, and most of it ends up in a landfill, incinerators, or in the environment.
“We are over-wrapping products we have to stop,” Wirsig said. “And a great place to start is fruits and vegetables.”
The Environmental Defence plastic waste reduction expert says the government’s plan is aimed at the so-called “big five,” grocery store giants, Loblaw, Metro, Walmart, Costco and Sobeys owner Empire Co.
“The big five in Canada, that control a lot of their own supply chains,” Wirsig said. “Should be getting on re-usable (products) through their supply chain, and offering all of their fruits and vegetables in bulk where possible.”
Lemaire with CPMA warns, if some foods like blueberries are sold in bulk, there would be “astronomical food loss.”
Something even Wirsig agrees with.
“Obviously this doesn't work for berries,” she said. “So when we're going to 95% (plastic-free packaging) by 2028, we're probably not including raspberries, and maybe not cherries.”
“But almost everything else could be done without plastic.”
Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product rose 0.2 per cent in February. The growth followed a 0.5 per cent gain in January.
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has been called in following a deadly wrong-way collision on Highway 401 in Whitby on Monday night, say police.
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.